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Dreaming of a time: the School of Public Health: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989

health movement appeared at loggerheads with the conservative drift of
the country. ^5
Dean McGavran hoped that legislators would see public health as
an alternative to national health insurance. "It takes no political prophet,"
he wrote, "to see that the postwar conservative government will shy
from the 'radical' medical care legislation and appropriations but cannot
avoid fulfillment of some of its promises by public health and hospital
support far in excess of anything heretofore proposed." McGavran was
right about support for hospitals, but public health would have to wait.^^
Despite these difficulties, the school continued to sink its roots
deeper into the university community and reach out to the people of
the state. "There is about the School of Public Health an interesting
atmosphere of confident assurance," noted an official of the Common-wealth
Fund. A major reason for this buoyancy was the creation of
new departments and the arrival of new faculty members in the late
1940s and early 1950s, some of whom would play major roles in the
future of the school and the university. ^^
Dr. Cecil G. Sheps joined the faculty as associate professor of
public health administration in the fall of 1947. A native of Winnipeg,
Canada, Sheps received his M.D. from the University of Manitoba and
his M.P.H. from Yale University. His parents were Jewish socialists from
the Ukraine, who immigrated to Canada after the 1905 revolution.
Sheps initially considered law and politics as the proper sphere in which
to fight for his notions of social justice, but a lecture on the triumphs
of public health convinced him otherwise. "I was inspired by that lec-ture,"
he remembered, "and decided that I would go into medicine, that
I could achieve my social objectives through medicine." After a few
years of general practice, a stint in the Canadian Army, and a job in
public health in Saskatchewan, Sheps accepted a fellowship to study
medical care administration at Yale. From there he ventured to Chapel
Hill to teach a summer session in epidemiology and biostatistics. Sheps's
army experience in venereal disease control attracted the attention of
John Wright, and Wright offered Sheps a job. Wright and Sheps began
sifting through the data collected by the venereal disease project and
published their findings in a number of papers. -^^
A future dean of the school, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, joined the
faculty as chairman of the newly organized Department of Biostatistics
in 1949. The lack of such a department had marked a serious weakness
66

health movement appeared at loggerheads with the conservative drift of
the country. ^5
Dean McGavran hoped that legislators would see public health as
an alternative to national health insurance. "It takes no political prophet,"
he wrote, "to see that the postwar conservative government will shy
from the 'radical' medical care legislation and appropriations but cannot
avoid fulfillment of some of its promises by public health and hospital
support far in excess of anything heretofore proposed." McGavran was
right about support for hospitals, but public health would have to wait.^^
Despite these difficulties, the school continued to sink its roots
deeper into the university community and reach out to the people of
the state. "There is about the School of Public Health an interesting
atmosphere of confident assurance," noted an official of the Common-wealth
Fund. A major reason for this buoyancy was the creation of
new departments and the arrival of new faculty members in the late
1940s and early 1950s, some of whom would play major roles in the
future of the school and the university. ^^
Dr. Cecil G. Sheps joined the faculty as associate professor of
public health administration in the fall of 1947. A native of Winnipeg,
Canada, Sheps received his M.D. from the University of Manitoba and
his M.P.H. from Yale University. His parents were Jewish socialists from
the Ukraine, who immigrated to Canada after the 1905 revolution.
Sheps initially considered law and politics as the proper sphere in which
to fight for his notions of social justice, but a lecture on the triumphs
of public health convinced him otherwise. "I was inspired by that lec-ture,"
he remembered, "and decided that I would go into medicine, that
I could achieve my social objectives through medicine." After a few
years of general practice, a stint in the Canadian Army, and a job in
public health in Saskatchewan, Sheps accepted a fellowship to study
medical care administration at Yale. From there he ventured to Chapel
Hill to teach a summer session in epidemiology and biostatistics. Sheps's
army experience in venereal disease control attracted the attention of
John Wright, and Wright offered Sheps a job. Wright and Sheps began
sifting through the data collected by the venereal disease project and
published their findings in a number of papers. -^^
A future dean of the school, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, joined the
faculty as chairman of the newly organized Department of Biostatistics
in 1949. The lack of such a department had marked a serious weakness
66